‘Indie’ book show hosts publishers excluded from Hong Kong Book Fair, but organiser is pessimistic about future
Hong Kong Free Press
Booksellers and browsers have praised an independent book fair which invited firms excluded from Hong Kong’s mainstream Book Fair last year, along with other publishers.
But organiser Leticia Wong, owner of the independent Hunter bookstore, expressed doubt there would be another “indie” event after the four-day book market wound up on Sunday, saying in a Facebook post she had even feared arrest.
“I am pessimistic. I don’t think Hunter Bookstore will be lucky enough to have a second book market,” she said.
The Hong Kong Book Fair is a major annual event which attracts thousands of browsers in a city where some publishers fear censorship under national security legislation.
“[The book market] was to let everyone have an alternative, other than the Hong Kong Book Fair in Wan Chai, to know more about publishing in Hong Kong,” said Hunter Bookstore – owned by a former District Councillor, Leticia Wong – in an earlier Facebook post.
The indie event ran from July 20-23, while the Hong Kong Book Fair was held from July 19-25. The annual book fair is organised by the official Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), a statutory body grouping business leaders and government officials.
Since 1990 the Book Fair has been held at the city’s imposing Convention and Exhibition Centre. The indie event was staged in far humbler surroundings, on the mezzanine floor of a clothing store in Sham Shui Po. It covered an area equal to about four standard booths in the convention centre.
Half the floor area was set aside for five independent publishers to display their books, while the rest was occupied by bookshelves and tables filled with books from at least ten indie publishers, including Hunter Bookstore itself.
‘More chances to be seen’
“From my perspective, many books from the small-scale publishers are better than those from the three leading publishers, so I hope their books can have more chances to be seen,” Wong told HKFP in Cantonese.
Publishers invited to the indie event included Hillway Culture and Humming Publishing, which were last year excluded from Hong Kong Book Fair.
In response to HKFP’s enquiry last year, the HKTDC said it would not comment on individual cases as “[when] organising any event, it is not uncommon that some applications may not be successful.”
Hillway Culture was founded by Raymond Yeung, a teacher injured in the 2019 protests and unrest. The publisher decided to take part in the 2021 Book Fair went despite being warned that some titles might be in breach of national security legislation.
Humming Publishing the same year published a book entitled A Concise History of Hong Kong, which local media reported had been removed from public libraries.
Yeung had plans last year to launch an independent book fair after being barred from the mainstream event. But the plans were axed a day before its official launch when the organisers were accused by the venue’s owner of breaching the lease terms.
No censorship
This year, said Wong, “we did not censor what books the publishers would exhibit. We did not even ask about it.”
At the indie event HKFP saw two books displayed by Hillway Culture that a pro-Beijing NGO said may have seditious content.
“The Hong Kong Trade Development Council is a statutory body and it was restricted by the political situation of the government…” Raymond Yeung told HKFP in Cantonese. “This [book market] is a great chance for the public to find books that cannot be found at the Hong Kong Book Fair.”
The HKTDC said before this year’s event that it did not have a list of banned titles and it would not pre-screen books, “as long as the titles didn’t breach Hong Kong law, including the national security law.”
Difficulties on exposure
Yeung said publishers which produced political books were “obviously” not welcome at government events.
“It will become more difficult for us to continue surviving in the market. [This indie book market] is a good start for us to see whether we can simply rely on the support of the private market and the public.”
HK Feature, a publisher which focuses on in-depth reports on social issues, also had a booth at the indie market. “Exposure is difficult for us as our books cannot enter the large bookstores,” said founder Kwan Chun-hoi.
Kwan said that even if one of their books was available in large bookstores, the process was very difficult.
“Nowadays, the area for exhibiting books in the large bookstores is significantly reduced. Many bookstores under the three leading publishers also closed down.”
When HKFP visited, the indie book market was attracting about five to ten visitors at a time. “I would like to read a diversity of books, not restricted to certain types,” said Eric Lau, one of the browsers. “I want to see if there is something I cannot find at the Hong Kong Book Fair.”
Hong Kong Book Fair
At the Book Fair, large booths of three leading bookstores – Commercial Press, Joint Publishing and Chung Hwa Book Company – were prominently sited near the entrance, as in previous years.
The three leading bookstores are controlled by China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, according to media reports.
Promoting old cultures
The Chung Hwa and Joint Publishing booths featured books introducing the Wynners and Beyond, two local bands active in the 1970s and 80s.
Joint Publishing focused partly on Hong Kong classic movies, dramas and songs and books related to this theme, said Leung Wai-ki, the publishing manager of Joint Publishing.
“I think it is a round-up. This is a special year for the Wynners and Beyond so we chose this as our theme,” Leung said.
The theme of this year’s Kong Book Fair was “History and City Literature.”
“The fair introduces books and artworks on Hong Kong’s history, culture and architecture,” its website says.
Hard to see political books
There were also books aplenty on literature, culture, philosophy and self-help but titles on politics were hard to spot. However, some books that have been removed from public libraries could be found in at least two booths.
At the booth of local publisher bbluesky, there were two travelogues by Allan Au, a journalist who was arrested for publishing seditious materials.
At the booth of Oxford University Press, there was a book about the political career of ex-lawmaker Margaret Ng, who was convicted of organising and participating in a unauthorised protest in 2019.
Function of book fair
Leslie Ng, the person in charge of bbluesky, said the Au books “were obviously travelogues” and he was not worried about selling them.
He said that bbluesky had been exhibiting at the Book Fair for four to five years but this year books which were able to reflect society were very “few.”
“[In the past] you would know what had been happening in society during that period of time, after you had a walk around the Hong Kong Book Fair, as publishers usually published books with hot topics. However, nowadays the situation could not be reflected,” said Ng.
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